Catalyst: Next Generation
by Albus Night
Summary: In a world where after an apocalyptic even occurs a group of teens begin an epic adventure to redeem them selves and revolutionize the government of this dystopian world filled with Humans, Lockets, and Catalyst. ORIGINAL STORY WARNING! BASED OFF OF THE CATALYST RP GROUP ON GOOGLE PLUS! Written by Angelic Garnet, Natsu, and Miyamura on Google Plus!
1. Chapter 0: Prolouge

_**Prologue ~**_

The night was empty. The silent city lay still, not a sound to be heard. But night is always much more simple than that. It has its ulterior motives, its underhand moves, its secret undertakings. Here was one such thing. Two sides faced each other, not moving from their positions, taunting at their opponents. Silence held… Then shattered. In a massive uproar, chaos erupted, the two sides charged at each other, the once silent night was now filled with yelling, shouts, and gunfire. Here, in this super mall's parking lot, we had the "righteous," government, putting down a "notorious," sub-gang of Pandora. It may seem that way to an onlooker, but who knew? After all, another bystander may see it as the "rebellious," trying their hardest to send a message to the "tyrannical," government that the system is failing and broken. But a being, standing on a ledge of said supermall, had a much wider thought, the thought that sides were relative, and it took someone of either pure love or pure hate to cleanse both sides. And it was much easier to cleanse when you hate.

"_Let's go, F-,"_ the being said, its voice being muffled by a harsh wind.

"_Mhm!"_ Its companion replied.

The two lept, and soon after screams of battle had turned into screams of terror, silence returned to the night. The moon reflected on a puddle, and in that puddle's tint, everything was crimson. A blade fed it, dripping the thick bodily fluid. The blade's owner was impaled through the chest by a single icicle. Others were as well. The only thing that could be heard for the rest of the night were the drips of blood.

Standing where the two once were, was a man garbed in shadows. A devilish smile crept across his face as he chuckled. "_Gi Hii!"_ he said as he cast a shadow over the blood and massacred bodies, that chuckle was all that he said before disappearing into the sleeping city. For a citizen in this sleeping city, that laugh was all they needed to identify the shadow. It was none other than "Shadow Steel," Gajeel. Further away, a man inside a surveillance van was furious. The man was none other than a high figure within the government. He threw his headphones onto the ground.

"_Damn those grunts, can't get a single thing done without dying! Next time, I'll be the one to go out, and I'll take him down while I'm at it..."_ This was none other than Lockon, infamous for his skills as a sniper.

And that would leave all the major players barred… except for our heroes and their enemies. Who was the bloodlusting couple? Where were our heroes? The silent city lay still, not a sound to be heard. But night has its reasons, and is busy in the silence. It has its ulterior motives, its underhand moves, its secret undertakings. So we will just have to wait until the awakening of day, and the dawn of a new era.


	2. Chapter 1: Hello New Provenance

Chapter One: Hello New Provenance!

The silver bullet train squealed to a stop at the station. Yelling could be heard before the doors opened, and when they did, two figures tumbled out wrestling. The crowd parted around the two brawlers, rolling around on the ground. Or rather, one was now on top of the other's back and held his arm. A pink haired teen held down a white haired one.

"You keep messing it up! Did you read the lines I gave you?"

Here we had Kouta "Arch," Watanabe. An impatient, rash, bold, and pink-haired 15 year-old. He was driven by unruly willpower and possessed an incredible amount of stubbornness.

"You know I sleep after I ea-Owowowowowow!"

The white haired boy being scolded was Aero "Ace," Heartfield. He was gluttonous, but still slim. Most people would view the 15 year-old as a sickly, frail boy, and he had the personality to match it. He was compassionate and empathetic. Someone giggled from the train, and two others walked out. A long-black haired girl and another teen with silver locks.

"Didn't you say you were going to perform one when we got out?"

The silver-haired girl questioned the males. This was Tsubasa Kibo, a rebellious and stout girl, who was sometimes indecisive, but wise. The two boys had classified her as the "tsundere," type and recognized her as the only other 15 year-old of the group.

"We would be! If this idiot didn't forget to read the prompts!"

"Owowowow! Sorry! Just let me go!" Arch listened, and got off of Arch. The black-haired girl helped him up as another giggle had bursted from her mouth, covering the peachy lips with her sleeve.

"You two are so silly!" The girl with the red scarf and long, raven-black hair was Setsuko "Snow," Shiro. Although many simply called her by her last name. This girl was prompted as shy, quiet, and dependent on Tsubasa, her older sister, as the youngest in the group, and only 14. She quickly pecked Ace on the cheek and smiled.

"Just get on with it…" Tsubasa growled impatiently.

"So, here we are in a new city!" Led Arch.

"Seems a lot like the last one…" Ace replied lazily.

"Thats because you were either sleeping and eating! Now, when in Rome-" Arch said. Snow chuckled softly, and Tsubasa let out a loose grin.

"Ah! I know that saying!" Ace interrupted. "When in Rome, eat everythi-" Arch hit Ace on the head so much that the latter fell down, steam rising from the wound.

"That's not it at all! Geez, everything is about food!" The two looked at each other, and bowed to their audience.

Tsubasa was the first one to burst into laughter, and Snow held her composure, her face turning red from the attempt. The girls clapped.

"Oi, Dai! You missed it," Tsubasa shouted into the train. A strained voice replied.

"You guys… you left all your bags." The light reflected on yet another silver head, Dai Takahashi, 16. The eldest was tactical and shrewd, but loyal, he was the one who raised the rest and their brother, regardless of legitimate blood relation.

"Maybe I would've seen it if you hadn't all been careless!" Dai continued.

The four sunk their heads to look downwards at the ground. He finally emerged carrying a massive amount of bags, and sweating. "This heat isn't helping either… You guys care to help?" The four rushed to their belongings and cried out their apologies.

Before Dai took on the role of raising the others, he was orphaned and abandoned by the orphanage. He was found by a master of a dojo, who knew many martial arts. The master taught Dai, hoping that he would carry on the dojo. The master was killed by the government for certain reasons and Dai was left alone again at the age of eight. Dai, feeling hopeless as no employees rose to take the position of owner and master, walked aimlessly around the neighborhood. He found Arch near a charred building, on that same evening, he heard crying in a house he thought was abandoned. Ace was crying in the house, with both what seemed to be his parents' corpses. Most likely killed by the intruder whose body was also present. After a year of raising them as a mature eight year-old, he found both Tsubasa and Setsuko huddling in an alley, with only a thin jacket for the two of them.

"Alright, now that we're here. What do you guys want t-" Dai was cut off by screams. He turned his head to the right. Two men, further down the station, were wearing brown overcoats, and a woman, who had bumped into one, had revealed that one had a… tattoo? Dai sensed trouble, maybe they were affiliated with a shady group, he thought. "Let's go!" His voice raised and instantly reached for something invisible at his side. Dai grabbed at air, "ACK!" he yelled and looked around to see if his possession was there.

"Your sword was mailed to the hotel, remember?" Tsubasa scoffed.

"Yeah… you guys will have to do this without me then! Shiro! Tsubasa! Attack them from their right! Arch and Ace! The train is still stationary so get on!" Dai yelled these commands with confidence and swagger, everyone who heard him instantly turned their heads from running, to wanting to watch.

"What will that do?" Arch questioned Dai as the latter held eyes with Ace. Ace grabbed his arms and dragged him onto the train. Dai nodded to the girls and they engaged the two men. The men pulled out knives from a hidden sheath, and a dark, shadowy substance reached from one of the man's coat sleeves and extended the blade of the knife.

"Tch, a Locket and a Catalyst! Were they gonna destroy this place?" Tsubasa muttered to Snow.

"I don't know, but let's just get them!" The girls charged as Dai looked on, worryingly. He knew Tsubasa would be able to handle herself, as she was a Locket and that he trained her himself, but as these two were a pair and they weren't, Shiro would not have her usual advantage. She was in fact, Ace's catalyst partner, and not Tsubasa's. Dai glanced at the two, fighting alongside each other, their cooperation being a complete opposite of Arch and Ace's teamwork. Although Shiro and Tsubasa were not real sisters, they fought like it. Shiro was actually found in a snowstorm by Tsubasa. Being a little crude, Tsubasa named her Setsuko Shiro, or commonly referred to, "white snow." Shiro was unconscious, and had a severe head wound. Someone had knocked her out and brutally turned the snow into crimson red. She had a large number of other injuries as well. When she had woken up, Tsubasa Kibo had tended her wounds and she said that she couldn't remember anything.

Dai hoped that the simple hand-to-hand combat training that he had given her was enough. The two sides engaged, and Tsubasa drew the locket away. It was Locket against Locket, Catalyst against Catalyst. Shiro quickly took up her fighting stance, and purposely drew herself in, as Dai had told her. This was to make the opponent feel larger and therefore more reckless. The menacing Catalyst slashed, and Shiro simply side-stepped. She spun under his extended arm, and delivered a rib-crunching punch. Dai chuckled.

"Now, you get down," Shiro said to herself. She put her hands on the ground, her feet raised and poised to strike as her opponent groaned, "And launch!" she exclaimed. Shiro pushed herself up and forward, launching her feet straight into the chest of the bomber.

"Gahck!" The receiver yelled.

"I'm not done yet!" Shiro began delivering a series of kicks into the already injured abdomen. As the two began their descent, she stopped and flipped in the air, delivering a high kick straight down onto the head of her opponent. The concrete cracked under the force as the body hit the ground.

Dai cringed at the sight, "I think she took it too far…", he said, just as he heard a chuckle from the collapsed body. He gasped. The man stood up as his trenchcoat slipped off, and revealed that he was being protected by shadows. At that same moment, Tsubasa let out a cry of pain. The man had slashed her arm.

"You think that you can take us down just like that? A bunch of kids? What a joke." The Catalyst said. Dai stepped back in surprise and after a moment, put his head down in defeat.

"No… The only joke here, is those two!" Dai lifted his head with a smirk on his face, he pointed at the train as the top came off with an invisible force, and Arch and Ace came out. The force was undoubtedly Ace's psychic powers as a Locket. Not only is he a telekinesis user, he also has access to other psychic abilities, such as mind reading and manipulating what a target sees. As a drawback to this, his eye's change color and he loses mobility for the duration of use. Looks like he didn't need to use much effort to burst through the metal. There wasn't even a lingering color of orange that is usually in his eyes when he activates the power. They landed right behind each man and kicked their legs from under them.

"Her Ace! Looks like we got ourselves some…" Arch said.

"Shady enemies," Ace continued. There was silence for a second as the joke set in.

"What…" Everyone present said as Dai facepalmed. He quickly recovered.

"Now!" Dai yelled to Tsubasa. She caught on quickly; the blood from her wound floated out and solidified into two knives which appeared in each boy's hand.

Tsubasa was a blood-wielder, but was still a novice and could only control her blood. She often uses it to harden certain parts of her body, or make it so that she has great piercing force. But if its outside her blood, she can use it to make weapons and speed her healing. The boys quickly put the knife to the men's throat like mirror images. Although Arch had a wide grin on his face while Ace looked laxed. The authorities soon arrived and took the two away in L/C pair restraints. A girl about the group's age greeted them.

"Well, well... looks like we have some..," the blond-haired female had clicked her tongue on the top of her mouth and put a smirk to appear on her curved lips, "very interesting individuals..."

"We do our best," Ace spoke for the group. He didn't know what it was, but he could sense a mysterious aura around her. Furthermore, he couldn't break into her head even if he tried, "I just don't want to see anyone get hurt, same goes for Snow here." Setsuko poked her head out from behind Ace and nodded.

The blonde had stared at all of the heroes and heroines at the scene with her lime-green eyes and folded her arms, giving some slight interest in them, "... You all could prove yourselves here, I can tell... As a Locket, we could use some of you here in our, um, let's say, government," the sounds of her gentle tone had shown a bit of pity and generosity for the group as she spoke to them with a tilted head.

Dai stepped in front of the others and said, "Thanks, but no thanks. We're not gonna be here long. Just touring and stuff." The others nodded behind him. All, except Arch.

"Huh!? But I wanna get a cool uniform!" He whined as Ace dragged him away from the scene. Dai was left there only by himself.

"You hesitated when you said government. Why?" He asked demandingly.

The girl had stood there, blinking at Dai with a sly smile, "People have called our authorities such as, 'Government, or somewhat a, 'Council'. Why do you have be so tense, boy?" The female Locket had teased him and snickered at his question, seeming to be like an ordinary person would do, unexpected from a government official.

"The others have already picked up a mysterious and dark vibe coming off of you. I'm just a human; so, unfortunately, I don't feel it completely, but… You are a threat to them and I will not let any harm come to them if I can do a thing about it. I want you to remember that in order to protect them… I will do things that they should never do. I will do things that will make you think that I'm not human." Dai swiftly turned around after his statement and sped up to join the others.

Kazuki Mika, the 5th ranked seater, the girl who spoke to the group, rose her wrist to her mouth and spoke, "Lockon? I've found some interesting people," she paused once more as static had been retrieved. "Yes, I know." Another moment of silence had filled the atmosphere. "Blood? He is also in my area? I don't sense him. I'll pursue him though." Kazuki paused again. "No, forget them, they'll just be a waste of time," the Locket had turned her heels to the crime and left after communicating with.. whom?

R&amp;R please!

_Questions? Send them here: CatalystFAQ _


	3. Chapter 2: First Contact - Arch

_**Chapter Two: First Contact - Arch**_

I rushed downstairs to meet the others. Today was our first full day here in the city, and I didn't want to waste a single second of it. When I arrived in the lobby, no one was there.

"_Huh?"_ I said out loud, confused.

Then Dai appeared from the front door in a track suit. Of course. He went running. I heard dragging footsteps behind me and I turned. There was a drowsy-eyed Setsuko rubbing her eyes with the sleeve of one of Ace's sweatshirt. Gross. The two had been dating ever since Ace turned 15, and the act was getting old.

"_Good morning~.." _Snow yawned and smiled kindly to me and Dai.

"_Oh, yo! Didn't see you two there,"_ Dai replied.

I sighed and leaned against the railing. Here we were at 9:30 AM and we hadn't even had breakfast yet. I followed Snow down the rest of the stairs and sat in a sofa. Dai went up to take a shower and came back down in street clothes. A few minutes passed before Tsubasa came down.

_"Hey, guys!" _She raised her hand to wave at us and grinned.

'_What the hell am I doing with my life…,'_ I thought to himself as my eyes trailed to Tsubasa when she ran down the steps carelessly.

"_Tsubi!"_ Snow yelled as she ran into Tsubasa's arms.

Dai nodded at Tsubasa and continued to chat with Ace nonchalantly as he folded his arms. I couldn't just stay silent, I had to say something.

_"G-G-G,"_ I stuttered.

_"Hm?" _Tsubasa said. She leaned in toward me. _"What's wrong Arch? Cat got your tongue? Did you have a dirty dream? Perv,"_ she looked on at me teasingly with her tongue stuck out and pulling down her eyelid as I looked away.

_"Good morni-"_ I was cut off by a series of loud thuds. Ace was suddenly at the bottom of the stairs, sleeping. Dai facepalmed and retired to the restaurant.

_"C'mon, after we eat we're going to pick my sword and tour downtown." _

After the meal and getting the sword, Dai left us for a few minutes, but during those minutes, I spent the time to rehearse with Ace.

_"Wow! Today's our first day here!"_ Ace said.

_"Yeah, but we got off on a late start,"_ I replied. Doing our routines always cheered me up.

_"Aw, c'mon, it can't be as bad as that one time you broke all of the pickle jars in that store! You had to work off your debt!"_ Ace seemed a bit more fired up today.

_"Yeah that was a real problem,"_ thinking back, the old lady was actually really nice, and treated me like a grandson.

_"You were in a real conundrum there,"_ Ace said. We paused.

_"Y'know, you could've said-"_ I said to him.

_"Pickle! I was right there!"_ I patted him on the head just as Dai walked back in the lobby.

Snow, who had been having a nice and quiet conversation with Tsubasa, said, _"Where were you?"_

_"Having someone repay a debt. Its right outside, c'mon,"_ Dai said as he went back out, his sword sheathed and slung over his shoulder in a bag. The four of us went outside and there were some men bringing out 5 .motorcycles.

"_Awwwww, yeah." _I muttered. I instantly went for the black one. Dai clotheslined me and I fell on my butt.

"_Let's thank these guys first,"_ Dai said with a smile, but we all knew that he was angered at me intently as I nodded without hesitation.

"_Thank you," _Dai said as he bowed. The others followed suit as I got up, "_Thank you,_" I replied with the similar tone.

"_My, my, such mature kids. Sure does remind me of Sensei,"_ one of the men said to Dai. I heard Snow whisper to Ace.

"Ace? Who are these guys?"

"I think they're some of Dai's master's friends. They look that old," Ace bluntly said. The men heard the remark and put on a very intimidating face.

"You wanna rumble, youngster!?", "I once beat a ranked seater in my age!" Were the kind of things that Ace received. I cringed a bit from the sounds of them.

"_Oh, I think we met one yesterday, a girl?" _Dai asked.

"_Well, they used to be celebrities, but recently they've been hiding in their shadows. No one knows why. If you've seen a Seater, it's probably the last time you're gonna see one,"_ the old man in the truck grinned and snapped his wrinkled fingers, "Well, we best be going now. I hope you young'uns are getting taught properly!" I cringed again.

Everyone else was home schooled with some old textbooks, but I rarely studied. We sent them off and chose our bikes. Tsubasa and Snow both got a red colored bike, Ace and I got the blue. Dai ended up with the black one, despite that being my first pick.

"_Alright guys, let's head downtown and shop a bit, then we'll grab something to eat, ok?"_ Dai breathed out a heavy sigh. I sometimes hated it when he laid out the schedule. He was really paranoid. Regardless, I had been taught my lessons many times, and crossing him was something I did not want to do. We all muttered a "yes," through our helmets and started the engines. I was the first one to screech off and swerved through cars. For some reason, Ace probably, I thought Dai was facepalming.

It was now 7 o'clock in the afternoon, and I was beat. We had shopped a bit, seen the founders' of this city's government statutes, ate at a 5-star restaurant, and took a walk from the northern district into the southern district. What separated the two was a park where Ace and I horsed around a bit, consequently, Dai gave both of us a blow to the head. We hung around there and whenever Ace broke off from me to speak with Dai or Snow, I just went to Tsubasa. I often took a look at her arm and although it was the next day, not even a scab remained. "That's what my power does!" She told me everytime I would have spoke about any of what happened during the events she either gotten cut of harmed. I was still concerned about her healing processes, wouldn't it shorten her life span? A life that I wanted to be apart of? I questioned myself this when I took a look at it for a third time, checking to see if there was any remnants of a wound. When she pulled away, I broke away from my haze.

"_Do you guys know where the nearest bathroom is?" _Tsubasa scratched her cheek and laughed awkwardly. Come to think of it, I had to go too. Dai pulled out his map.

"_There's one near a visitor's center over there. Its a pretty dangerous area so let's all go."_ Typical Dai, paranoid as usual. I'm sure that Tsubasa would be able to take care of herself. Contrary to what I thought, I nodded and said,

"_Alright! Let's go!"_

"_To the bathmobile!"_ Ace proclaimed. I was shocked.

"_Ace… no, Aero!"_ I grabbed both of his shoulders. "_That was a terrific one-liner! I don't know if you know this, but its a perfect reference to B-tman! Not only is he a hero, he's __**our**_ _hero!"_ I proceeded to yell and scream the B-tman theme song as we walked to the visitor center. In the middle of singing, I thought I felt something watching me, and I turned around. Dai noticed, he too turned around and just as quickly turned back.

"_Ignore it, there's bound to be some suspicious characters here Arch. Also, I doubt they could take us."_ I felt assured by his remark, but he didn't. He seemed to be on an edge, as if he had seen something. I didn't let it bother me. Dai would be Dai.

"_Found it!"_ Ace yelled as he turned a corner. As soon as he yelled it loudly, I sprinted ahead and into the little boy's room. As I relieved myself, I heard some creaking from the ceiling. I quickly washed my hands and went outside where the others were. They were also staring upwards. Was it a threat? Tsubasa wasn't here yet, but if it was only one, we could take 'em. Dai was the perfect tactician and strategist, he wouldn't let us down. These thoughts raced by my head as I looked up to see the enemy. Standing there was a masked man and woman. The woman had a light-blue mask which looked like it was made of ice. The man had bandages wrapped from the nose down, probably for show. But it did the trick, I was terrified as I looked at his blood-red eyes. I doubt they were bloodshot from tiredness or being high, or even contacts, they were definitely his actual iris color.

"_This world is corrupt, and I will be the one to cleanse it,"_ he said.

I, being an idiot, responded bluntly to the man, "_Eh? What's that supposed to mean? And the world seems fine! Just a few kinks is all!"_

I could feel Dai stabbing knives into my back, either out of terror or anger, I still don't know. The man, or should I say teen, looked at me with eyes of rage. I had to take a step back. Everyone took a fighting stance, even the kind-hearted Snow. That's how menacing these people were.

Dai took his sword out of the bag, and said to Ace, "_Ace, launch me."_

How could this be happening?! Dai hadn't even taken a full second to properly think and he was rushing in ahead! Ace also looked confused, but did as he was told. His eyes turned orange and Dai flew through the air. He drew his sword, a japanese katana, forged with iron created by a locket. As he fell, he brought the sword down with one hand and held the scabbard in another and used that to strike the girl. Ice instantly shielded the girl and the teen had blocked with his sword, scanning his eyes directly at her as if observing from such a close range.

"_So my suspicion was right…"_ The teen said, "_That sword was made from the Shadow iron of 'Shadow Steel' Gajeel. I knew you were affiliated with a gang,"_ Dai flipped backwards and landed in front of me.

I understood now, he had risked his own safety to get us the information that the teen was a catalyst and the girl was a locket, "_It no longer matters, if there was government here I would let them have you, but since there is not... I'll kill you myself,"_ he glared down at us with an apathetic look that shown no interest.

For the first time, the girl spoke in admiration, "_Ahhh, Blood-sama, so cool!" _

I groaned and rolled my eye sockets as a sarcastic way of showing the two of them their close pairings, even this creepy dude was in a relationship. Who has a name like 'Blood?'; that's just asking to be a loner.

"_Frost, focus,_" she clung to him even more. It was getting weirder by the second. "_Hikari."_ He said with a stern voice. Now, Hikari was a name I could live with. Guess "Frost," was her codename or something.

"_Fineeee,"_ she pouted and suddenly, we were in the air.

R&amp;R please


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